[danimom2005]

Our atty told us we would not come to court to finilize the adoption that he would handle that. Does that sound right it seems like my cousin who is adopting is haivng to go to court for lots of thigns with her adoption. I was also wonderign here in our county they order a post placement assessment and give them 60 days to complete that so does that mean that after they get the preplacement paperwork that it will be another 60 days to finish the post and then I heard 30 days to finalize the adoption.
Also I know I am full of questions this morning. For some reason several yrs ago when my brother adopted my nephew somethnig happened between the atty andjudge and wound up costing my brother 10,000.Has anyone ever heard of that. Sorrry for all the questions in one post. I posted last night but something happened and had to repost.

[DianeScraps]

I have heard of counties where adoptive families do not have to appear in court.

Call your orphans/ family court division and they should be able to tell you.

(grrr on the glitch - but thanks for reposting!)

[awaitingagirl]

Well we did domestic and didnt have to go to court. So I dont know. Some friends of mine did have to go, some didnt.
For Int'l, I have no idea.

[lisa in venice]

My children were adopted from three different states and in two of them the adoptive parents had to go to court but in one they did not. Some require it and some don't. It may also vary by the kind of adoption. I know when we did a foster/adopt the whole thing to MUCH longer to get thru the court process then our straight adoptions did. I think Rachel became an adoptive placement only three months after coming to us as a foster child so at that point she was legally free to adopt but it still took over a year to get the court date to finalize. As for the post placement study some state require that it not be filed UNTIL after a certain period (in CA and RI it's six months) but other states allow for a shorter postplacement observation period. You really should just check your state statutes or call the court and ask about the requirements for the specific kind of adoption you are doing.

lisa

[usmcfamily2005]

We just finalized our adoption. We never stepped foot in a courtroom to do it. Our attorney took care of everything.

As far as the post-placement goes. Once you return home with your baby, you have to start your post placement process. Depending on the laws of your state you will have to have more than one post-placement visit in your home by a social worker. Our state required 2 post placement visits. These visits are similar to your home study visits. The social worker is there to make sure that you and the baby are adjusting well. After you have completed the post-placement visits required by your state, then the final petition can be signed by the courts. I think there is actually a 90 day waiting period to finalize, but that can be waived if your attorney files the paperwork to have the waiting time waived.

Don't sweat it, this is the easy part. It won't be long now for you. Give it maybe 3-4 months from the time you returned home with your baby and it will all be finalized.

[awaitingagirl]

Right Lisa,
Thst right I remember someone telling me that if its a private adoption there is no court, but if the birthmother signs over to an agency and then the agency over to aparents then there is court? Does that sound right?

[danimom2005]

Thanks for the advice .See with us we already have our daughter and have had her since 2 days old and we were hoping to finish the adoption this year so we can get her added to our insurance b/c the co DH works for is giving us the run around not wanting to add her. as far as I have been able to find out the court orders the post placement and gives whoever does it 60 days to complete adn give their order to the court.
So i guess now we just wait for our approval through the agency and get the atty back to the court and get his part done so we can finish soon I hope I hope 3-4 months and then it willbe done. thanks again for advice

[awaitingagirl]

I think you call the insurace co directly, the boss doesnt have a say in adding her or not. I think, if im correct, its against the law for the ins. co not to automatically put your newly adopted child on when notified. It DOES NOT have to be finalized!

[lisa in venice]

Some benefits people are confused by adoption lanuguage and insist that kids can only be added after finalization BUT the law says they must be added at PLACEMENT. Te legislation that mandated that was the omnibus somethingorother and was signed by Clinton in the mid '90's. Your dd should be covered NOW just keep talking to people up the chain of command until you find someone who knows what they are doing.

lisa

From an article at
http://www.adopting.org/uni/frame.ph...on%2CWSUn21070


The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993
by Michael S. Melbinger


The Omnibus Budget Reconciliation Act of 1993 added a new Section 609(c) to the Employee Retirement Income Security Act of 1974 (ERISA).This new Section requires that any "group health plan" that provides coverage for dependent children of plan participants for adoption under the same terms and conditions as apply in the case of a dependent child who is the "natural" child of a plan participant. This requirement applies irrespective of whether the adoption has become final. Additionally, an employer's group health plan may not restrict coverage of any dependent child adopted by a participant or placed with a participant for adoption solely on the basis of a preexisting condition of such child at the time that such child otherwise would become eligible for coverage under the plan, if the adoption or placement for adoption occurs while the participant is eligible for coverage under the plan. The law protects children who have not attained age 18 as of the date of the adoption or placement.

"Group health plans" include the health and medical benefit plans of virtually every employer that is subject to ERISA in the United States. Group health plans include both plans that are self-insured by the employer and fully insured plans, under which benefits generally are provided directly by an insurance company. Employers that are not subject to ERISA are governmental employers (which would be subject to state or federal laws governing coverage and "churches" (which could include church-sponsored organizations such as hospitals). Note: The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act of 1996, (HIPAA), described below, extended similar requirements to employers and plans not covered by ERISA.

For your adopted children to be entitled to coverage under your employer's medical benefit plan you must be a plan participant and you must otherwise be eligible to elect family coverage under the plan. You must follow all other applicable requirements for coverage under the plan.

[danimom2005]

thanks i think i will copntact the ins co again and just tell them what the company is saying they have changed their story sso much and the ins co told me the info they needed. I am going to see what i can do and thanks again for the advice my dr has been really good about letting us charge her visits and on her 1 yr checkup he even said if we dont get her on ins that he will not make us pay that he will take care of it as an adoption gift to our family.I will keep ya posted about this

[patti Daniels]

We did have to go to court for finalization. We had a domestic adoption.